Nigel Farage has lost his appeal for a €2,990 fine for accusing EU President Herman Van Rompuy of having the charisma of a “damp rag” or a “low-grade bank clerk.” Apparently the UKIP leader will now have “to bear his own costs and to pay those of the European Parliament.”As Zero Hedge says, they clearly want him to pay off the EU’s debts one fine at a time.

Farage says he is now weighing up his options of further appeal but stands by the “freedom of speech of all elected members, not just for supporters of the EU’s political union.” The press over here have been exceptionally quiet about all this, and thus it’s fallen to Drudge and the Washington Post across the pond to pick it up. Farage’s people tell Guido that they have been inundated with offers from Americans to pay the fine:

“One man was so determined he said that he was going to pay almost the whole lot but as he was only a driver we had to wait until April 2013 to get the money – which obviously we aren’t going to take but it’s lovely to know that there are people in the world who value freedom of speech.”